Exercising devices for the shoulder, or scapula, region of the body are known in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,402,179 to Piscitelli on Jan. 3, 1922, illustrates on exercising device in combination with a harness. Such a device is intended for strengthening primarily the muscles associated with the arms, and is particularly well-suited for strengthening muscles used in the sport of boxing. Moreover, such a device is extremely portable, thereby extending the usefulness of such a device outside of a gym or physical therapy center. However, such a device is not well-suited for full therapeutic exercising of the muscles associated with the scapula region since such a device tends to exert force in only one direction, toward the body. As the shoulder girdle comprises four individual joints that work together to permit the greatest range of movement possible in the human body, a variety of resistive forces must be available to adequately exercise all of the muscles associated with the scapula region. Moreover, some muscle groups in this region are naturally stronger than other muscle groups, and various therapeutic treatments require that a varying degree of exercise and resistive force be applied to these different muscle groups individually. Such a device, therefore, while being portable and easy to use, does not fully exercise the muscles of the scapula region.
Other prior art devices are known that can be configured to exercise certain scapula muscle groups. However, such devices are typically heavy, non-portable gym equipment, or the like, and are not easily portable. Further, such devices are costly to manufacture.
Clearly there is a need for a portable exercising device that fully exercises the muscles of the scapula region. Such a needed device would be relatively simple to manufacture, configure, and use. Moreover, such a needed device would allow varying degrees of resistive force to be applied to different scapula regions during use. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages.